INSIDE OUT - A Little Collection Of Loud Inner Outings - 2020

"INSIDE OUT" : 

01 - Drop Dead Red Rose - In The Woods - Glastsormbury Festival - Bradford - 11-07-20
02 - Kid Kapichi - Glitterati - First On Stage - Homeschoolfest - 10-05-20
03 - Saint Agnes - This World Ain't Big Enough - BadPond Festival - Brighton - 19-12-20
04 - Healthy Junkies - Mayday (with Frog) - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival - The Unicorn - London - 12-09-20
05 - Birdeatsbaby - The World Conspires - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival - 13-09-20

06 - FFOOSS - Sick Of Being 17 - dBs Studio - Utrecht - 17-05-20
07 - Pollypikpocketz - Waving The World Goodbye - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival - The Unicorn - London - 13-09-20
08 - Yard Act - Human Sacrifice - Hype Stage - Homeschoolfest - 10-05-20
09 - Do Nothing - Gangs - Hype Stage - Homeschoolfest - 09-05-20
10 - Tiffany Twisted - Sold My Soul - BooTV - The Engine Rooms - London - 24-10-20
11 - The White Ribbons - Same Old Mistakes - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival - 13-09-20
12 - A Void - She Threw Her Baby From The 7th Floor - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival - The Unicorn - London - 12-09-20
13 - Bexatron - Hex Your Ex - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival - The Comedy - London - 13-09-20
14 - Wargasm - Post Modern Rhapsody - Alt Stage - Homeschoolfest - 09-05-20
15 - Beach Riot - Tune in, Drop Out - First On Stage - Homeschoolfest - 10-05-20
16 - Gaffa Tape Sandy - Meat Head - The Smokehouse Presents - Ipswich - 11-12-20
17 - 45AcidBabies - Jetlag Jenny -The Sessions - Effenaar - Eindhoven- 22-11-20
18 - Bongloard - I Want It Now - HipFest - YMCA -Scheveningen - 22-11-20
19 - FFOOSS - Slayer - dBs Studio - Utrecht - 17-05-20

20 - Birdeatsbaby - Lady Grey - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival - 13-09-20
21 - Pollypikpocketz - Amnesia - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival.- The Unicorn - London - 13-09-20

22 - Healthy Junkies - Theft - Punk and Roll Rendez-Vous Festival.- The Unicorn - London - 13-09-20

Technical info  :
DVD Full Pro-shot

Video : Mpeg - 720 X 576 - 25 FPS - 16:9
Audio : Mpeg - 48000 Hz
Running Time : 87 mns
Size : 4,06 Go

Menu & Chapters - Artwork included

 

 

Inside... out. A halfway call for a better future ? Or a full way to describe 2020's mess ? When I come to think about it, this is rather unimaginable to consider I attended my last concert on February 8th. Well ... to be honest, I managed to sneak my ears into a backstreet venue for a new one on September 26th, during a too short lockdown "sunny spell". As well I would never have thought that going to the nice little French underground Schmoul festival in January would be the first and the last one I would head to this year !! Looking back, 2020 has been a total upside down version of what my nights "out" are usually like ! This might sound a damn fickle thought in regards of all the victims of this craziness around and to all the artists who need to hit a stage to earn a decent living. This is why I'm so grateful to those who tried to maintain a flimsy tie with us through stripped live shows. Those streaming things were definitely a light last resort for everyone, on and in front of the "stage" but it kept the fire alive and allowed us poor wretches to make up a bit for it. This dvd project was made to pay tribute to them. Among these, I wanted to honour this London (but not only !) underground scene that is so gorgeously portrayed in Neil Anderson & Keira Cullinane's photozine "98 Wounds", out there since 2013. Go and have a look at their site, it's worth it ! Order a few of their back issues if you can (couldn't resist to buy fifteen of them in one go when I discovered the project ! :-) ). I've always been into that kind of underbelly live shows full of lifeblood, rough energy and warmth. They often make the best memories and in that regard I have a great recollection of the first London "Siren Calling" festival I went to in August 2019. As such, a special thank goes here to Healthy Junkies for having held their eighth "Punk'n Roll Rendez-Vous" festival despite the grim conditions. It was a real treat to log on to these three streaming days, discovering great new bands in a very easy-going friendly atmosphere. Another big purveyor was the Homeschoolfest, set up by Dork magazine. Again, a huge series of acts on different "stages", some I knew and others totally fresh and new to me. Here and there on the dvd, you will also find some other live renditions I found worth listening to.

Personal highlights of the year ? : FFOOSS, a young fuzzy garage-trash-pop duo from Utrecht whose livestream really gave me hard time to edit as it was totally out of synch and virtually unwatchable. The image is still a bit blurry (initial low encoding I guess) but picture and sound fit much better now (if not perfect) and the energy shown by Sophia (guitar and singing) and Jannes (drums) is just infectious ! A band that definitely deserves to be followed in the next months and hopefully to be watched live with the coming release of their second album, "Millenium Friction". These two young guys are really talented as Jannes played guitar (!) in his own band, Bongloard (also on this dvd) while Sophia also leads her own group under the name of "45AcidBabies" whose first album was just on repeat at home throughout 2019 (and of course duly featured on this dvd as well) !

Second personal favourite on the bill : Birdeatsbaby, a music truly apart made of thunder and whispers, dark, complex with intertwined breaks and layers. Song making must take ages ! A kind of Muse meeting Kate Bush meeting Marilyn Manson meeting Nine Inch Nails meeting Rachmaninov. Mishkin's voice is just fantastic !! Seven albums since 2008 with huge critical acclaim coming along the last one,"The World Conspires". As many solo albums from Mishkin. Two live lps. A band close to their fans who are close to the band. Maybe not everyone's taste but definitely highly respectable and worthy of devotion due to the richness of their world. Can't understand this band isn't more widely praised.

Third, fancy a side kick of punk rock ? Pollypikpocketz is your man. First sight, first reaction : how can you possibly have an odder mixture of styles ?? But hell, it damn works !!!! Myura's Gwen-Stefani-like clear singing suits perfectly legendary Frog's Hugh Cornwell-like deep voice. The guy can't be missed in his perpetual fluorescent outfit and flashy yellow-dyed hair ! And he just has ants in his pants on stage while his hairy-moustached-always-sunglassed fellow Kiki shreds some 70s vibes riffs. Quite an unexpected line-up but the living proof that bringing different cultures together makes you better ! A true punk rocking machine !

At last, I couldn't miss to feature one of my best live memories of 2019 (the old world) : Saint Agnes. It was a close thing, as they hadn't played live since Valentine's day up to this last December 19th. I managed to cram one of their songs played on that occasion at the last minute.  

A "quick" overview of what's "inside" can be watched below (the out of synch seems to grow a bit by the end of the video but I couldn't fix it - it's not the case on the dvd ! - ... and I've just got enough ! ;-) )

 Don't know what's gonna come next here as the whole thing always take more time and work than expected but I hope it will definitely be inspired by some kind of experience ... OUTSIDE !! 

Keep safe, keep rocking, guys !!

Enjoy !

Cheers

Chac

 

DOLLY - "Froth The Pages" - Eurockéennes De Belfort (F) - 03-07-98  /  MANU - La Parenthèse - Baran Milé (F) - 09-06-18

DOLLY

Eurockéennes Festival - Belfort - 03-07-98

1 - Quand L'Herbe Nous Dévore

2 - Love And Money

3 - Les Mots

4 - Joe

5 - Garde Moi

6 - Je Ne Veux Pas Rester Sage

7 - Regis

8 - Around The Corner

9 - Partir Seule

10 - Fin D'Epoque

11 - Love And Money

MANU

Chapau d'Elles Festival - La Parenthèse - Baran Milé - 09-06-18

12 - Encore De Moi

13 - La Vérité

14 - Quand L'Herbe Nous Dévore

15 - Je Ne Veux Pas Rester Sage

16 - Entre Deux Eaux
Stéréolux - Nantes - 11-10-19 
17 - L'Horizon 

Technical info  :
DVD Full Pro-shot + Audience shot

Video : Mpeg - 720 X 576 - 25 FPS - 16:9
Audio : Mpeg - 48000 Hz
Running Time : 86 mns
Size : 3,99 Go

Menu & Chapters - Artwork included
 

Odd. Odd how this place has become something like shelter through hard times. Back in the days, so was the cathartic editing of  the IAMX Paris show I went to the week before the Bataclan attack. It looks as if the feeling is recurring once more. Yet, with the crazy time-consuming telecommuting that currently grounds me way too much in front of this screen, I'd just promised myself to do something, anything, else to take my mind off this mess. Well, ... I guess the depressing ongoing cancellations of all the shows and festivals I initially planned to go to finally got the upper hand. A form of catch-up compensation ? Similar to the one presently offered by festival websites revisiting their golden past ? Probably. Everyone's trying to make up for it.

But again, knowing all this is gonna make my nights shorter, which one to pick among all the projects I never find time to shape ? And why Dolly eventually ? Don't really know ... Maybe I got caught by the shows of their former singer I recently went to ? (those were the days !!) Or am I under the influence of a redeeming mission to restore  the true recognition they should have deserved ? My shame for never seeing them live too ? A mixed bag of all this I guess.

Roaming the local club scene as soon as 1989. the band started playing under the name of Dolly Bird, then Dolly and Co. In 1995, they turned to a flat Dolly moniker and played extensively until 2005, when their career sadly came to an end with the tragic departure of their bass player, Mika. Manu, lead singer, couldn't really get over the passing before 2008 when she released her first solo album, "Rendez-Vous" with its beautiful and moving self-titled song in tribute to their gone beloved friend. Nikko, Dolly's lead guitar, was still there. He now plays with another too often underrated band, Eiffel.

Anyway, all my gratitude goes here to Kevin and Alexandra Chamberlin who shared online some rare footage of Kevin's dad  and friends. Without them, little would have survived of Dolly's high-energy live heritage. What I've done here is just paying a humble tribute to a band I probably overlooked too much at the time. Other priorites, I guess. Other priorities, never you should have ! :-) I tried to brighten up the time-faded colours, to sharpen the edges here and there, ... Well, in times of high-resolution standards, it's far from being 4k but I hope this is a fair rekindled legacy of what Dolly could truly deliver on stage. The band had only released their first album at the time and the live rendering and the feedback from the audience are wow !!, already full of promises. Particularly regarding the day, the very hour, the set took place, when the "whole" country was glued to their TV set, watching our national football team struggling its way to the world cup semi-final. Manu is referring to it several times during the show. On the performance ground, Dolly 's music is some kind of stormy weather. Infuriated electric thunder followed by a sweet  sunny spell. Swirled in the midst of the hurricane, Manu's delicate voice seems to be the only light you can hold on to. She brings that sweet touch that makes the whole stand out. Sweet grunge ? Grungy sweetness ? Pick your temper. More, there is also some kind of Cobain-like moves in her playing.

 

As I said before, Manu is still playing today. She has released six albums so far, with mood swinging from collaborative unplugged sessions to more electric power-pop tunes, even taking a breather out  in an all-japanese sung ep. Everything in a quite DIY confidential way but always generous in the giving. I went and saw her a couple of times, from quite empty venues to fairly packed ones but everytime, humility and generosity were felt. This is this mix of two worlds you have here in the bonus section of this dvd, taken from my personal memories of the shows.

On a side note, I've just realised I'm releasing this Eurockéennes show dvd the very day the festival decides to cancel its 2020 edition. "These are dark times, there is no denying ..."  

Take care and enjoy, guys !!

Cheers

Chac